Friday, November 16, 2007

In THE HINDU – YOUNG WORLD painting competitions, school students express themselves in colour and form.

What impressions do bazaars leave on children . . .

Venkatesh lives in a “big” town. Maybe, his family usually shops at this enclosed market. It is different from Lathika’s cart vendor and Siva’s open market place. In ‘big’ towns, the municipality has provided a covered area for a bazaar. What one sees in this painting is that Vijayawada must be a cosmopolitan town. The vegetable vendors are not all Telugu-speaking. There is also a Sardarji. One woman vendor is selling her wares in a basket. Who is the man with the trolley? The foreground is coloured green. Could it be that the bazaar is not paved?

I look at the painting by Siva Sankari. His ‘Bazaar Scene’ is filled with so many people. Bazaars are always crowded. But, why are they so? If the bazaar at Teppakulam were made larger, would it still look like this? The advertisements loom large. Everyone is offering discounts. It must be DIWALI time when Siva made this painting. They are diwali offers.